The Scold's Bridle by Minette Walters

way and another, and feel that I have discharged all my obligations towards you. If you haven't already taken me to court when you see this, then I urge you not to waste your money after I'm gone. Believe me, I have given you more than the law ever entitled you to.
    "Now, Ruth." She cleared her throat. "Your behaviour since your seventeenth birthday has appalled me. I can find no way to account for it or excuse it. I have always told you that the property would be yours when I died. I was referring to Cedar House but you assumed, without any prompting from me, that the contents and the money would be yours, too. That was a false assumption. My intention was always to leave the more valuable contents and the money to Joanna, and the house to you. Joanna, I assumed, would not wish to move from London, and you would have had the choice either to sell up or stay but you would have sold, I'm sure, because the house would have lost its charms once the estate was approved. What little remained to the property would never have satisfied you because you're as greedy as your mother. In conclusion, I can only repeat what I said to Joanna: I have made some very handsome settlements on you and feel that I have more than discharged my obligations to you. It may be the fault of inbreeding, of course, but I have come to realize that neither of you is capable of a decent or a generous thought." Her eyes narrowed behind her glasses. "I therefore intend to leave everything I own to Dr. Sarah Blakeney of Mill House, Long Upton, Dorset, who will, I am confident, use her windfall wisely. In so far as I have ever been capable of feeling fondness for anyone I have felt it for her." She gave a sudden chuckle. "Don't be angry with me, Sarah. I must have died without changing my mind, or you wouldn't be watching this. So remember me for our friendship and not for this burden I have laid on you. Joanna and Ruth will hate you, as they have hated me, and they will accuse you of all manner of beastliness, just as they have accused me. But 'what's done cannot be undone,' so take it all with my blessing and use it to promote something worthwhile in my memory. Goodbye, my dear."
     
     

     
    "When sorrows come, they come not as single spies but in battalions." I am afraid that Ruth's behaviour is becoming compulsive but am reluctant to tackle her about it for fear of what she might do to me. She is not above taking a stick to an old woman who annoys or frustrates her. I see it in her eyes, an awareness that I am more valuable to her dead than alive.
    It was truly said: "He that dies pays all debts." If I knew where she was going every day, it would help, but she lies about that as she lies about everything. Could it be schizophrenia? She is certainly the right age for it. I trust the school will do something about it next term. I am not strong enough for any more scenes nor will I be blamed for what was never my fault. God knows, there was only one victim in all this, and that was little Mathilda Cavendish. I wish I could remember her, that loving lovely child, but she is as insubstantial to me now as memories of my mother. Forgotten wraiths, both of them, unloved, abused, neglected.
    Thank God for Sarah. She convinces me that like Shakespeare's sad old man "I am more sinned against than sinning..."
     

     
    *5*
    Paul Duggan switched off the television set and spoke ito the silence. "The video recording, of course, has no legal standing which is why I referred to Mrs. Gillespie's last
written
will and testament." He reached into his briefcase and produced some sheaves of paper. "These are photocopies only but the original is available for inspection at my office in Hills Street." He handed a copy to each of the women. "Mrs. Gillespie felt you might try to contest this document, Mrs. Lascelles. I can only advise you to consult a solicitor before you do so. As far as Dr. Blakeney is concerned"-he turned to Sarah-"Mr. Hapgood and I will need to discuss details